(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Bahrain has deported at least five Lebanese residents for security reasons, a Lebanese diplomat said on Monday, after a crackdown on protests stoked regional sectarian tensions.
Since Bahrain quelled pro-democracy protests led mostly by its Shi'ite majority, tensions have not only run high between the Sunni-ruled Gulf country and its own Shi'ites, but between Bahrain and nearby countries with large Shi'ite populations, such as Iran, Lebanon and Iraq.
"They have deported five or six people in what they said was a security decision," the Lebanese diplomat told Reuters by telephone. "Not all of them were Shi'ites, they were from other religious sects including Sunnis and Christians."
He said that in total 16 Lebanese residents of Bahrain were told they were to be expelled, but the Lebanese embassy was in talks with authorities to try to prevent those still in capital Manama from being deported.